Bradley Wiggins’ name remained at the top of the stage 13 leaderboard for most of today’s rain swept 54 kilometre time trial in Albi. In fact, if the downpour hadn’t stopped as the key contenders for overall victory raced over the course, the World and Olympic pursuit champion might have taken his first stage win in the Tour de France.

But the emergence of some late-afternoon sunshine, after a lunchtime of torrential rain, saw Alexandre Vinokourov, Cadel Evans, Andreas Kloden and Andrey Kasechkin all overtake the Briton in the stage standings.

In the end, Wiggins finished a more than honourable fifth, just over two minutes behind the resurgent Kazakh. “I went out and hurt myself,” he said afterwards, “but it was a nice pain. I hadn’t expected that much but it turned out to be a great day.”

In the middle of the afternoon, with the big names still to come, the stage leader board had a distinctly British feel to it, with Wiggins at the top of the standings, David Millar close behind and even Geraint Thomas sneaking into the top ten.

Millar, still bothered by his skin allergy, finally finished 20th. “The weather was good for me because of my skin rash, but it was very dangerous and I took lots or risks.”

Millar’s ability to churn out substantial power in the second half of the Tour has given him great confidence for the rest of the race. “I rode the last ten kilometres at 59 kilometres per hour average and I put 35 seconds into Bradley,” he said, “so now I am optimistic for the final week.”

Ahead of Millar, Wiggins and Thomas, the battle for control of the race is likely to be played out in the coming three stages in the Pyrenees, with the leading protagonists the Astana team, the Discovery Channel team and an isolated looking Cadel Evans, leader of Predictor-Lotto.

Both Astana and Discovery now each have three riders in the top fifteen placings, which gives them a range of tactical options.

Today’s stage, from Mazamet to Plateau de Beille ski station, is one of two remaining summit finishes. The smart money is on a telling attack by race leader Rasmussen, but if the fast-rising Alberto Contador is to seize his opportunity, so close to the Spanish border, he can be expected to launch an attack also.